Immigration Court: the Little Black Box by Carmine Pernini
On Monday, April 30, 2018, I was asked to accompany Bayron, a man seeking asylum in the US, to his Immigration Court hearing at the Rodino Federal Building, Newark, NJ. Bayron came to the US in 2016 across the Mexico/US...
Words Matter by Abel Arroyo Traverso
Words Matter. If there anything I learned in my last 5 years in Lutheran academia is that confessions are central. Words matter. They shape realities and transform both perception and perspective. Words are powerful. Even if they sound made up...
Jesus, Starbucks & Super Friends
When I was a kid I thought of Jesus as my personal superhero. My maternal grandmother Emogene gave me a children’s bible—filled with colorful pictures depicting the works of Jesus. I loved that book and the promise that it held....
Black Panther Sermon by Nicolette Faison
Lenten Sermon on the film Black Panther Good morning church. During the peace I was hit with the “Wakanda forever”, I needed that. I was curious, did anyone else see Black Panther yet? (Yes’, echoing from the church). Great. Ok....
Confronting Whiteness by Rev. Christopher Hanley
17 As (Jesus) was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me...
Of Sweet Dreams and Peril by Rev. Albert Starr
“Sweet dreams.”Uttered almost like an extension of bedtime prayers, whispered and spoken with a gentleness intended to comfort, these two words invoking the gift, “sweet dreams.” In 1963 on a national stage, a 35-year-old Martin Luther King, Jr. was about...